


Back for You

by magicgamble



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, I Ship It, M/M, if you're still jackcrutchie trash and you know it clap your hands, why are there no davey/katherine fics??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-09-06 23:31:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8773765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicgamble/pseuds/magicgamble
Summary: Jack is a high school football star who is just trying to get through his senior year, Crutchie is a theatre kid with a crush he can't shake, Katherine is a school newspaper editor on her way to being valedictorian, and Davey is doing everything he can to beat her to it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write a newsies high school AU for ages, so... here it is. 
> 
> I did highkey take the idea for Crutchie's real name from @byrd_the_amazin, who writes great fics. It's just such a perfect name for him!

There were already a few kids in first period Theatre 1 when Jack showed up, and they were all exactly who he expected to see. Freshman. Over-eager, their voices mercilessly pounded Jack’s head. He groaned, sliding back into his chair at the back of the class and leaning his head against the wall. This was not how he'd wanted to start off his senior year.

Ms. Larkin walked in a moment later, surveying her new students as she went to sit at her desk. Her eyes lingered a little bit longer on Jack, and he wondered how obvious it was that he didn’t fit in.

“I’ve been listening _non-stop_ to _Hamilton_ ,” a kid with green hair who had decided to sit in front of Jack said to his friend. "Get it? Non-stop?"

“That was _terrible_ ,” the girl next to him giggled.

Jack looked pleadingly at the clock. It seemed stuck, and class hadn’t even started yet.

When the bell rang, Jack looked dismally around the room. No one he knew. All freshman and maybe a couple of sophomores. _Dammit_. He’d been hoping for at least one familiar face, but that’s what he got for waiting so long to take his stupid fine arts credit. _You should’ve just taken art,_ he chastised himself. But he hadn’t. And now he was stuck here with eighteen _Hamilton_ -obsessed freshmen.

Ms. Larkin looked back up at the class, then down at a sheet of paper on her desk. Standing, she brought it over to the podium and glanced at the door before putting on a smile. “Well, hello!” she said, meeting everyone’s eyes in turn. Jack sat up a little straighter when she looked at him. “I’m Ms. Larkin, and this is Theatre 1. Now, I see that most of you are probably new here, so welcome to Manhattan High.”

Jack almost scoffed. She made it sound like it was some big honor. Manhattan, Iowa consisted almost entirely of corn and hicks, and its high school was certainly nothing special. Jack had always thought it was pretty laughable that this place happened to share a name with the infinitely more exciting New York borough.

“I’ll just get started with attendance,” Ms. Larkin said, “and then-”

The door suddenly opened, and Ms. Larkin beamed at the new arrival. “There you are, kid! I was wondering why your butt wasn’t in class!”

Some of the freshman glanced at each other curiously, taking note of Ms. Larkin’s casual tone, but Jack didn’t even wonder, once he saw who had come in. It was Katherine Plumber’s friend. That kid with the limp.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, blushing as he came into the room. He was short, and a crutch was tucked under his right arm. His hair, where it escaped from his beanie, was messy and tawny, and he wore a red plaid shirt over an _Addams Family the Musical_ T-shirt. Ms. Larkin embraced him.

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him. “Go find a seat.”

The kid- and for the life of him, Jack couldn’t remember his name- turned to face the class, his eyes scanning the rows. Pretty much every seat was already taken. The kid’s gaze brushed past Jack, and he gave a small smile, recognition passing between them. Jack nodded back as the kid made his way over to the seat beside him.

“Hey,” Jack said.

“Hi,” the kid returned, leaning his crutch on the back wall and taking off his backpack.

Ms. Larkin began to call roll, and Jack’s classmates sounded off when she got to their names.

“Jack Kelly?” she finally said, and he raised his hand.

“Here.”

She smiled at him and returned to her list.

“Charlie Morris.”

The kid beside Jack was busy taking a pen and notepad out of his bag, but he raised his hand as he straightened up. Ms. Larkin was already on to the next person.

 _Charlie?_ The name was barely ringing a bell. Maybe he went by something else. Even so, Jack’s only interaction with the kid was seeing him in the halls. It wasn't like they’d ever held a conversation.

With a kid named Andy Zabroski, Ms. Larkin finished calling attendance. She set down her list and beamed at the class. “Well, this is sure exciting, isn't it?” she said. “We’re going to get to know each other very well.”

Jack glanced nervously around the room, not sure if that's what he wanted. It wasn’t like he was opposed to having younger friends. It was just… these were _theatre_ kids. They had their own thing going on, and Jack wasn't a part of that. Jack ran with a different crowd. If they got close enough, they’d see that Jack had no idea what he was doing here.

 _It’s Theatre 1, jackass,_ he reminded himself. _None of them know what they’re doing._

Jack’s gaze found its way over to Charlie, and he thought that it was weird to see him in this class. What the hell was he doing here, anyway?

“-partner up,” Ms. Larkin had been talking the whole time, and Jack hadn’t heard a word of it. Partnering up? Shit.

He looked around at everyone else, who all seemed to have friends, and then someone coughed beside him. He turned and saw Charlie glancing at him, his eyes darting back to his desk after meeting Jack’s.

“Uh, hey,” Jack said. “Did you want to…?”

“Yeah, sure,” Charlie said, as if he hadn’t thought about it yet. “I think we’re outnumbered.”

Jack looked around the room again and chuckled. “Yeah, looks like it.”

“Alright,” Ms. Larkin said, “I hope you chose wisely, because this person is going to be your partner for a semester-long project!” She sounded so giddy about it. Jack glanced nervously at Charlie.

He swallowed and hesitantly returned Jack’s smile.

 _Great,_ Jack thought. _He hates me already._  

There were scattered groans and cheers throughout the rest of the room. 

“But we’ll talk more about that, later,” Ms. Larkin said. “For now, let’s get to know each other. Theatre is all about trust, and if you don't know someone, how can you trust them, right? So, let's do a little ice-breaker. I want you all to think of three statements about yourself. Two are going to be true, and one false. Your partner will have to guess which statement is the lie. Ready? Go.”

_Oh my god._

Jack sat back in his chair, willing himself to be anywhere else in the world. He really should’ve sucked it up and taken art.

“Um… okay,” Charlie said. “Should I start?”

“Yeah, uh, sure, go ahead,” Jack mumbled, not sure what he would say anyway.

“Okay. Uh... here’s one: My favorite food is PB&J.”

Jack sighed. “True.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said, coughing once. “Yeah, it’s true.”

“It’s not crazy enough to be false,” Jack explained. “Why would you lie about that?”

He shrugged. “I guess I wouldn’t.”

“Okay, go again.”

“Um…. I don’t know… my favorite musical is _Chess_.”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“It’s a musical.”

“Yeah, I got that, I just…” Jack tried not to roll his eyes. “Okay, true.”

Charlie smiled, just barely. “No. That one was false.”

“Well, what’s your favorite, then?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think I could pick. What’s yours?”

“I don’t do musicals.”

Now it was Charlie’s turn to suppress an eye-roll, except he didn’t do any suppressing. “Right. Sorry," he said, his tone icier. "Here’s my last one: I’ve never been to a football game, before.”

Jack bristled at how clear Charlie was making it that he wasn’t impressed by him. “True,” Jack said bluntly. He didn’t need to prove anything.

“Okay,” Charlie said, adjusting himself in his seat and wincing just a bit. Jack wondered if it was something to do with his leg. “Your turn.”

“Fine. My favorite color is yellow.”

“True.”

“False. Good try, though,” Jack said, with a hint of patronization. “How ‘bout this: I watch football every Sunday.”

“True.”

“False,” Jack countered, enjoying the annoyed blush on Charlie’s cheeks.

“Try this one: I’ve seen every play this school has put on.”

Charlie rolled his eyes again. “False.”

“Would you look at that? You got one right.”

“That’s not how you play, you know.”

Jack shrugged. “Guess I better drop the class, huh, Charlie?”

He raised his eyebrows, but then looked to Ms. Larkin and sighed. “Oh, right. Yeah, I don’t really go by Charlie.”

“Oh,” Jack said. “Well, what should I call you, then?”

“Everyone calls me Crutchie.”

Jack’s mouth fell open for a second, but he quickly closed it. “I’m not calling you that.”

Crutchie sat forward, insistently. “I want you to.”

“Why?”

“It’s what I like to go by.”

Jack conceded. “Okay, fine. I guess I’m going to have to get used to it.”

“Yeah,” Crutchie said, narrowing his eyes at Jack. “Hey, what are you doing in here, anyway?”

Jack shrugged. “I had to take my fine arts credit.”

Crutchie smiled, laughing a bit. “That must suck, for you.”

Jack went along with it. “Yeah, for sure.” They sat in silence for a moment, until Jack asked, “But what about you?”

“What?”

“Why are you here? Aren’t you like… in theatre and stuff?”

Crutchie smiled again. “Yeah, I’m ‘in theatre and stuff.’ I just…” he rolled his eyes. “There was a mix-up, and my theatre credit from the city didn’t transfer.”

“The city?” Jack asked. “Where are you from?”

Crutchie shifted again, and Jack guessed that he was getting uncomfortable. “I used to live in New York. But that was forever ago.”

Jack, now intrigued, swung his legs around so he was facing Crutchie. “You used to live in New York? What was it like?”

“It was fine.”

“Why did you leave?”

Crutchie opened his mouth, but then closed it, swinging his eyes away from Jack’s. Jack was still waiting for a response when Ms. Larkin spoke up again, cutting the conversation short. She continued for the rest of the period, talking about class procedures and how fun this semester was going to be, and Jack sat back and wondered what he’d gotten himself into.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine and Davey start off the year on shaky ground. Someone unexpected shows up in their English class.

Katherine was not planning to start the year off by nearly killing someone, but hey, that’s life. She had just pulled into her parking spot, ready to begin the day, when she swung her car door open and felt a thud. Her first thought was that she’d hit the car next to her, but then she heard someone curse, and she quickly grabbed her bag and jumped out. On the ground in front of the door was Davey Jacobs.

Katherine had to use all her self-control not to shrug and walk away.

“Ow!” Davey protested from the ground, holding a hand to his face. It made his voice nasally.

Any guilt Katherine might’ve felt vanished when Davey looked up, saw her standing there, and said, “oh, great. How did I get lucky enough to see _your_ face this early in the morning?” 

Katherine tilted her head, humming a bit as she smiled down at him. “Well, I could say the same for you, Davey. Especially now that yours is broken.”

Davey grumbled angrily as he stood, finding handholds on Katherine’s car. She made a mental note to get it washed this afternoon. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?” he asked. He took his hand away from his face for a moment and it came back bloody. A few drops fell onto his clean white polo, which was tucked in, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Katherine’s stomach turned. She hadn’t _meant_ to hit him, but he was still hurt. She should probably-

“What were you doing, anyway? Couldn’t you see that I was coming?” he demanded.

“I was grabbing my stuff,” she explained. “I wasn’t looking. And apparently, neither were you.”

“As if I could’ve dodged that.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s clear you’re no athlete.”

He rolled his eyes and began to push past her. “Trust _me_ , I know how you feel about athletes.”

Katherine had been prepared to let him walk away, but that comment sent her into a tailspin. She hurried after him, mouth open in indignation. “What does _that_ mean?”

Davey looked pleased to have gotten under her skin. He glanced at her and then shrugged, not slowing at all. “Nothing. It means nothing.”

Katherine didn’t believe him for a second. In fact, she knew exactly what he was implying, but she wanted to hear him say it aloud. “I don’t know what you think you’ve heard, Mr. Jacobs,” she began, “but I-”

He laughed once, loudly. “Please. As if I would have to _hear_ anything to know all about your little crush.”

“My _what_?”

_Oh, god, this is bad._

They’d reached the front doors, and Davey pushed them open with his shoulder. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, _Miss. Plumber_ ,” he said. “And I think it’s just fair to warn you that your pathetic attempts to hide it are not working.”

_Oh my GOD._

Katherine tried to act unfazed. “You’re the one who’s a piece of work,” she countered. “You’re just spouting a bunch of nonsense, as usual. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to class.”

“Me too,” Davey said.

They continued to walk in the same direction.

Katherine scoffed at him. “I’m going to the B-wing.”

He glared back. “So am I.”

“I’m going to AP English.”

His glare was softened this time by disbelief. “So am I.”

_That’s it._ Katherine had _had_ it with this day already, and it wasn’t even first period, yet. She stormed past Davey Jacobs and beat him to first period, then sat at the front of the class and stared straight ahead, even when he came in a few seconds later and sat right behind her. She noticed he had grabbed some tissues to sop up the blood coming from his nose.

Davey Jacobs, Ruiner-of-All-Things, was not going to mess this year up for her. She had her eye set on valedictorian, and she knew he did, too. That’s how it had always been-- the two of them, head-to-head since kindergarten. Back then it had been about coloring pages (he had been a scribbler, and she’d made sure to point it out)- but now it was serious. She couldn’t let some stupid, know-it-all boy take away her spot at the top.

“Hey, what’s eating her?” a familiar voice sounded off beside her. He had just walked in, and he set his bags down heavily before sitting.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m right here, Race. I can hear you.”

He shrugged, a look of carelessness forever shaping his face. “You didn’t look like you were in a talking mood.”

“She’s not,” Davey said.

“Well, I’m not,” Katherine agreed, at the exact same time that Davey spoke. She swiveled to glare at him, and he returned it.  

Race blew out a breath, holding up his hands and scooting back in his seat. “Alright, alright. I get it, I won’t get in your way. _But…_ my guess is that someone skipped out on coffee this morning. Am I right, Katherine?”

“Race, how could you possibly know if I didn’t have coffee this morning?”

“Because it shows,” Davey quipped.

Race held up his hand to silence him. “I don’t know, of course I don’t know,” he told Katherine. “But did you?”

She wanted to slap him. “No,” she admitted. “I was late getting out the door.”

Race smiled at her, and from the other side of his desk, pulled up his stash bag. Inside, amongst the contents of an entire pantry that Race would sell by the end of the day, was a can of iced coffee from Starbucks, which he slid over to her. It was still cold. She sighed, half-annoyed, half-grateful, and handed him two dollars.

“You’re not still doing this, are you?” Davey asked Race.

“Why would I stop?” Race countered. “I make more money in one day of selling to the suckers in this school than you would believe. Err… no offense, Katherine.”

She waved him off, too wrapped-up in her coffee to care if she was a sucker or not. Davey and Race continued to talk for a minute or two, and Katherine tuned them out, watching the clock and thinking back on what Davey had said to her earlier. Did everyone really know about her crush on Jack Kelly?

_Stop it,_ she told herself. She was making it into a much bigger deal than it was. Practically the whole school had a crush on Jack Kelly, and she was not necessarily notable. At least, she hadn’t been. Before that party, she was just some girl in his class. But now, she found herself wondering if he was wondering about her. He had been a damn good kisser, that’s for sure, but it was narcissistic to think that he might’ve felt the same way about her. He probably didn’t even remember it, so she should really stop-

Her thoughts were cut short when the entire classroom went still.

“No way,” someone from the back of the room whispered, and Katherine had to agree that she was surprised, too.

The boy who’d just walked in scanned the room and sat directly behind Race, immediately swinging a leg up on top of his desk. He was small enough that he could get away with it, but no one would’ve dared to say anything anyway.

Race’s eyes were huge as he looked at Katherine and mouthed, _“Spot Conlon?”_  

She nodded, a smile breaking on her lips. It was him, alright, and he looked like he was ready to make senior year his bitch.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At lunch, Crutchie, Sarah, and Katherine discuss topics such as: Spot Conlon, Jack Kelly, and Davey Jacobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been kind of a long time since I've updated. I was suuuper busy, but now that it's break, I'll be able to update a lot more frequently! Thanks for reading, guys. :)

Crutchie had sat with Katherine and Sarah at lunch for the last three years, and the first day of senior year was no different. They had somehow managed to hang on to their usual spot by the stage in the cafeteria, but Katherine was having a hard time concentrating on the positives.

“Who does he think he is?” she grumbled, angrily stabbing her salad and shooting glares at Davey, who sat with Race and Specs at the other end of the table. “I mean, sitting here, just, out of the blue? What was wrong with their old spot?”

“Ugh, I know,” Sarah mumbled, “sitting somewhere different at lunch? Than they have before? The nerve…”

Katherine shot her a look, and Sarah glanced at Crutchie, smiling around her milk carton.

“Listen, I know he’s your brother, but he just…” Katherine shuddered. “He irks me.”

“Well, for the record,” Crutchie said, “we had no idea.”

Sarah laughed, and even Katherine cracked a smile. “Sorry, guys. Okay, no more talk about Davey. We need a new topic.”

Crutchie’s brain dinged at the chance to bring up the fact that he had spoken to Jack Kelly, but Katherine was already talking again.

“Oh! Did you guys hear about Spot Conlon?”

Crutchie was glad he hadn’t spoken. News about Spot Conlon, Manhattan’s resident delinquent, was bound to be interesting.

“What? No!” Sarah exclaimed, putting down her sandwich. “What happened?”

“Well,” Katherine leaned in. “I was sitting in first period, and right before the bell rang, Spot walked in.”

“He’s back from juvie?” Crutchie asked.

“Apparently,” Katherine replied. “I don’t think anyone knew he was, though. Race looked so surprised, you’d-”

“Okay, hold up,” Race, who had been walking by, suddenly plopped himself down beside Katherine, holding up his hands defensively. Katherine jumped.

“Race! Where did you-”

“I was surprised to see Spot because he _does_ still have three months of juvie left to go.”

Before the logical half of Crutchie’s brain could stop him, he blurted, “He broke out!?”

All eyes turned to him, and while Sarah shrugged, as if to say, _It could happen,_ Race and Katherine were not as supportive.

“Oh my god, Crutchie, of course he didn’t _break out,_ ” Race said, rolling his eyes. “He probably got off on good behavior or something.”

Before the sentence was even out of his mouth, Sarah burst out laughing. Crutchie thought that Race’s annoyed blush was even funnier than the notion that Spot Conlon would ever be awarded anything for “good behavior,” but not by much.

Katherine, smirking but remaining ever the professional, nodded at Race. “Okay, I _need_ to talk to him. I want his take for an exposé about incarceration of youth offenders.”

Race scoffed. “Good luck with that.”

“Come on, Race, please?” Katherine begged. “Get him to do it for me, will you?”

Race gestured to himself incredulously while he stole one of Crutchie’s apple slices. “What makes you think I could do that?”

“If anyone could, it would be you,” she said. “You’re like, his biggest fan.” Turning to Crutchie and Sarah, she said, “Today, he told Spot ‘not to worry about it’ when he didn’t have cash for a soda.”

Crutchie’s mouth fell open. “Hey! You bugged me for a month about owing you money.”

“Yeah, $3.25 isn’t anything to sneeze at,” Race shot back.

“Apparently, neither is $2.50,” Sarah interjected.

“Well, it seems like the rules don’t apply for Spot Conlon,” Katherine said.

Race’s blush had not disappeared. “Whatever. I’m gonna make him pay me back eventually.”

Crutchie didn’t believe it for a second. In fact, he thought that Race’s appreciation for Spot went beyond being a “fan,” but he kept his mouth closed. There was no reason to start anything, or make Race mad at him.

“Oh, Jack’s here,” Race said, and Katherine, Sarah, and Crutchie all turned quickly to see him sit down by Davey and Specs.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” Race said, and made his way back to the other end of the table.

When Race returned, Jack looked up and caught sight of Sarah, Crutchie, and Katherine staring at him. He gave a hesitant smile and waved a bit, nodding slightly at Crutchie. Crutchie waved back, and then Jack returned to his lunch.

Katherine and Sarah turned their stares to Crutchie.

“Um,” Sarah said.

“What was that, Crutch?” Katherine asked, her voice low and her gaze expectant.

“Oh, um, yeah, we have first period together,” Crutchie explained.

“What?” they both exclaimed.

“And you didn’t _tell_ us?” Sarah demanded.

“Sorry!” he said. “I meant to, but-”

“I can’t believe you withheld this information,” Katherine said. “Crutchie, come on, you _know_ this is important!”

“It’s important because…?” he didn’t say anything further, wondering if they were catching on to why it might be important to _him._ He hadn’t actually told them about how every time he saw Jack Kelly, his heart sped up, and his breaths got shallow, and he understood the definition of the word “swoon,” but he’d been planning to today.

“Because Katherine locked lips with him at that party!” Sarah reminded him.

“Oh,” Crutchie’s chest panged a little, “I didn’t realize that was a big deal.”

“It’s… not,” Katherine said, blushing, “I just… I kind of…”

“She’s kind of in love with him,” Sarah finished, and Katherine didn’t protest.

“Well,” Crutchie grumbled. “How come I haven’t been included in any of this?”

“I haven’t either,” Sarah said, giving Katherine a side-eye. “I just deduced.”

Katherine sighed. “I might be… a _little_ attracted to Jack Kelly. It’s just very inconvenient, considering he and I are _nothing_ alike.”

“Oh, that is not true,” Sarah countered. “Listen, I know him the best out of all of us. I practically grew up with him. No matter what you think, he’s not some emotionally stunted meathead.”

Katherine scoffed. “I never said that.”

“I know you’ve thought it, though.”

Crutchie couldn’t deny that he’d always assumed as much about Jack, too. And today, when they’d talked… it had been a tad more confrontational than he’d meant it to be. He wasn’t sure why. All he knew was that he’d been on edge the moment he saw Jack sitting in the back of the classroom, and that had thrown a good portion of his ability to communicate out the window.

“Didn’t _you_ break up with _him_?” Katherine pointed out, smiling.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, that was middle school! And it was because I’m a lesbian, not because he’s emotionally stunted!”

“It’s not you, it’s me,” Crutchie muttered.

“Exactly.”

Katherine laughed, and Crutchie noticed Davey and Jack turn to glance at her from the other end of the table. “I know, I’m just teasing,” she told Sarah. “So, Crutchie, tell us how he was in first period. Cute? Emotionally adept?”

Crutchie smiled. “Well, he doesn’t like musicals, so…”

“Oh boy, that’s a deal-breaker,” Sarah said.

“For Crutchie, maybe, but not for me,” Katherine retorted.

“Yeah,” Crutchie responded. “Good thing I’m not into him.”


	4. Chapter 4

"So..." Race started. "How was juvie?" 

Spot turned to stare at him, and Race inwardly kicked himself. 

"Uh, sorry," he said. "Damn, that was kind of a shitty thing to ask, huh?" 

Spot's mouth quirked up at the corner, and he turned back to his phone. "Yeah, kind of." 

It was after school, and Spot was sitting down at a picnic table outside. Race, who had just shown up, tried to see what he was doing on his phone, and raised his eyebrows when he saw that Spot was playing Candy Crush. "You still play-?" 

"Race, what are you doing?" Spot asked, calmly turning off his screen and turning to Race with both judgment and expectation on his face. 

Race's heart sped up a bit. "Huh? Tonight? Um, nothing much. I don't have any homework yet, or anything..." 

"No, I mean right now, you idiot," Spot said. "What are you still hanging around for?" 

Race's excitement immediately shut down, and frustrated embarrassment took over. "Nothing," he grumbled. 

"Are you trying to be friends or something?" Spot pressed. 

"No," Race maintained. "I don't need you for that. I'm not some delinquent nobody who everyone's too scared of to hang out with." 

Spot's jaw twitched- something Race would think about for the rest of the day- and he stood, stepping up close to Race. For a moment, Race was sure that Spot was going to hit him, but then, Spot grinned and said, "But you're not scared, right?" 

Spot's face was close enough for Race to see the texture of his skin; smooth and freckled and slightly pink on his nose. Race's mouth was dry. "No way," he snapped. 

Spot nodded, and Race hated how every move he made screamed superiority. "Okay. So, you wanna give me a ride home?" 

Race was torn between wanting to hit him and wanting to do... something else. He quickly pushed both urges aside and said, "Uh, sure."

"Cool." Spot grabbed his backpack and followed Race to the parking lot.  

Race was acutely aware of Spot's presence beside him as they maneuvered through the parked cars and the terrible teenage drivers.

"Jeez, where the hell are you parked, Higgins?" Spot asked, twice. 

"I got here late," he explained, twice. "I'm in the back." 

Spot didn't respond to that, (either time) but it was clear that he disapproved, for whatever reason. Just when Race thought they were going to get through the parking lot without spectacle, he was stupid enough to pass by Katherine Plumber's car. 

She was talking to Sarah and leaning against her car, and when Race and Spot passed, she shot up, darting after them immediately. "Spot!" she called.

Spot turned, looking her up and down with an ambiguous expression that Race was going to label as distaste, because he didn't want to imagine that it could be anything else. "Yeah?" 

Katherine was grinning hugely, and she reached for something in her backpack pocket. "I was just wondering if I could ask you about-" 

"No," Spot interrupted, already beginning to walk off again.

Katherine's face fell for barely a second before it transformed to determination. She had fished a recording device from her bag and was now following Spot, holding it up like she was reporting for the _New York Times_ and not the _Manhattan High Gazette._  "Just a few words from someone who's been in the system," she clarified. "I'd love to do a hard-hitting exposé on-" 

"No," Spot said again, without turning around. Race tried not to laugh, and he turned and saw Sarah doing the same thing. 

"She's persistent," Sarah said. Katherine was chasing him farther away, and could still be heard, trying to get him to talk. 

"That's one word for it," Race agreed. 

"So," Sarah nodded towards Katherine's victim. "Spot Conlon, huh?" 

Race furrowed his brows. "Yep. That's... his name." 

There was something in Sarah's expression, the tilt of her grin, the knowing look in her eyes, that made Race uneasy. "Sure is," she replied. "Are you friends with him?" 

Race hefted his backpack a little higher. "I'm just giving him a ride home," he said curtly. 

"Oh, yeah, I know," Sarah said. "That didn't answer my question, though." 

Race couldn't tell whether he wanted to hightail it out of this conversation, or let Sarah Jacobs peel away all his layers- just like she clearly wanted to. In a way, the latter sounded like such a relief. 

"No," Race finally said. "We're not friends." 

"But you want to be," she asserted, raising an eyebrow and staring him down.

He left that statement unchallenged and followed after Spot and Katherine. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack has to catch a ride to school with Katherine and the gang, and he enlists Crutchie's help to win her over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys! Sorry the last chapter was so short. It's starting to pick up!

Three weeks into the semester, Jack’s car broke down. His dad was off on a business trip, as usual, and he would have no way to get his car into the shop before school started. He called Davey.

“Hello?”

“Dave, tell me you're not already at school.”

“Okay, I won't tell you.”

Jack groaned and checked the time on the oven. “You could come back and pick me up, though, right? There's still thirty minutes till school starts.”

“I'm sorry, Jack, I can’t. I'm at an important meeting right now.”

“What kind of meeting?”

“Jack, I’m sorry, but-“

“Is it a chess club meeting, Davey? Please don't tell me it's a chess club meeting.”

Davey scoffed. “Fine. It _is._ But this is important, Jack! It's the first one of the semester and we have some new recruits who I have to-“

Jack rolled his eyes. “Fine. Okay. It's fine, Dave. What about Sarah? Does she have her license yet?”

“No, but I think she's getting a ride from Katherine Plumber today.”

Jack’s stomach flipped. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, you know how they are,” he said, distastefully.

“What? Friends?”

“Yeah.”

Jack laughed. “Davey, you gotta give her a chance. She's really-“

“Yeah I know exactly how _you_ feel about her,” Davey countered. “And I am not going to just ‘give her a chance’- not after 8th grade.”

“Oh my god.”

“Jack, I gotta go. I hope you get a ride. I'll drive you to the shop after school, okay? Bye.”

The line went dead, and Jack pulled up Sarah’s number on his phone. His thumb hovered over the call button, and he took a deep breath before pressing it.

It rang twice.

“Jack?”

“Hey Sarah.”

“What's up?”

“Nothing, I'm just... well, my car won’t start and I need-“

“Katherine just picked me up. We’ll swing by and get you.”

“Oh. Oh! Um, great! Okay, thank-”

“See you in a minute, Jack.”

She hung up, and Jack paused for a moment, trying to get his bearings. The Jacobs family lived barely five minutes away, meaning Jack had almost no time to get ready. He grabbed his backpack and stood in front of the hallway mirror. He looked fine, he guessed, and it wasn't like Katherine Plumber didn't see him everyday anyway, but he actually hadn't spoken to her, face-to-face, since that party…

A horn sounded in the driveway, and Jack took a breath and opened the door. Katherine’s car- a red Prius- sat there, waiting for him next to his useless blue pickup. He waved, locked the door behind him, and trotted down the driveway.

Through the tinted windows, he could just make out three human shapes-two in the back- and he opened the shotgun door and slipped inside. Immediately, he turned to look at who the bonus person was and saw Crutchie, sitting beside Sarah and glancing out the window.

“Oh, hey, man,” Jack said.

Crutchie turned, eyebrows raised as if he hadn't noticed Jack get in the car. “Oh, hey, Jack.”

“Car trouble?” Katherine asked as she put the Prius in reverse.

“Yeah,” Jack confirmed, gesturing to his truck. “The damn thing is always doing this to me.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you were on our way,” Katherine said, flashing him a quick, nervous smile.

Jack smiled back, hoping to quell some of her anxiety. Seeing that she was just as unsure as he was gave him a boost of confidence. Maybe he could make this work out, after all.

There was a slight pause before Sarah chimed in. “Did you call Davey before you called me?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Jack responded, turning in his seat to face her.

She had a smirk on her face, and she continued, “Did he tell you what he was doing?”

Jack’s lips turned up, too, and he laughed, “I can’t believe he’s still in the freaking chess club.”

Katherine snorted, and then everyone burst out laughing- half at her, half at Davey.

“Oh my god, Katherine,” Crutchie said. “That _timing._ ”

“Tell me about it,” Jack agreed.

Katherine’s cheeks were bright red, but she was still laughing, too. She had a cute laugh- the kind that made Jack understand what it meant when books described laughter as sounding like bells. He wondered if that would be a good thing to tell her. Maybe she’d think it was clever.

“Well, I mean, _really_ ,” she said. “Davey Jacobs is the absolute _biggest_ nerd I’ve ever met in my life.”

Crutchie let loose a chuckle, and Katherine’s mouth fell open. “What?” she asked.

Grinning, Crutchie explained, “You have zero room to talk. You’re the smartest, most ambitious person I know.”

Jack couldn’t stop himself from smiling. It was clear to him that Crutchie had meant that as more of a dig than a compliment, but it hadn’t sounded that way. Maybe Crutchie’s real feelings towards his friend were hard to contain, or maybe he was just too nice to do a good job insulting anyone. Either way, Katherine blushed again and said, gently, “Shut up. At least I’m not in the chess club.”

“You’re right,” Crutchie agreed, his eyes meeting Jack’s in an amused glance that said _Let’s leave her alone._ “You do have that going for you.”

Jack gave Crutchie a tiny nod, and then Crutchie once again turned to look out the window. Sarah was on her phone, but she was smiling, too.

Jack turned back around and concluded that he liked the atmosphere of this carpool. Maybe his truck didn’t need to be fixed right away, after all.

When they got to school, Crutchie and Jack split off from Katherine and Sarah and headed for first period. The surprising ease of the car ride, however, was difficult to maintain with just the two of them.

“So,” Jack ventured, “Do you not drive?”

Crutchie looked up at him curiously, and then said, “Oh! Because I was riding with Katherine?”

Jack had actually been wondering if Crutchie’s leg made driving a problem, but he was immediately glad the question hadn’t been taken that way. _Why would you ever ask that in the first place?_  he chastised himself. _How insensitive are you, anyway? “_ “Um… yeah.” he said.  

“I have my license,” Crutchie told him, “but me and Kat and Sarah like to carpool sometimes. It’s more fun, and it saves the planet and stuff.”

“Oh,” Jack nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good point. Hey, maybe I’ll join you guys!”

He had meant it as sort of a joke, but Crutchie looked up at him brightly, with more than a little confusion, and said, “Um, sure. That would be fun!”

Even though they hardly knew each other, and Katherine and Sarah were his best friends, Crutchie seemed like he was open to letting Jack in, just like that. It made Jack’s chest feel warm.

“Right,” Jack said. “Well, you gotta do what you can for the planet, you know.”

_What are you doing right now?_ He demanded of himself. He wasn’t sure what would come out of his mouth next if he kept talking.

“Yep,” Crutchie agreed, nodding mechanically, “You’re right about that.”

Jack wasn’t sure what had happened to their conversation, but he suspected it was his fault. They were walking slowly, because of Crutchie’s limp, and they still had a while to go before they made it to Ms. Larkin’s classroom. He needed to salvage what he could.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” he said, and Crutchie looked up at him expectantly. Jack took note of his appearance for the first time that day. A _Les Miserables_ T-shirt, blue suspenders, jeans, converse, and of course, that beanie. He seemed to be always wearing that thing. Jack looked back up at his face and realized that he was still waiting to hear what Jack was thinking about. His eyes, large and doe brown, blinked, and Jack coughed before continuing, “Uh… I’ve been thinking about us maybe helping each other out.”

“Oh? What with?”

“Well,” Jack shook his head from side to side like he was weighing whether he should say it or not, “I’ve kind of got this thing for Katherine.”

Crutchie turned away. “Oh?”

“Yeah, and I was wondering… well, you know. It’d be great to have you on my side, since you two are such good friends.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, do you think you could do that? Let me know what she’s thinking, and all that?”

Crutchie nodded, still not turning. “Um, yeah, sure,” he agreed, his voice soft and slightly different in tone than it had been before. Jack wondered if he’d done something wrong. Was he overstepping? He didn’t think so. He’d actually thought this would be a good way to get to know Crutchie better, too. Likely, nothing was wrong, and he was overthinking it.

“How are you going to help me out?” Crutchie asked, suddenly.

“What?”

“You said you were thinking about us helping each other out. Is there something you were planning on helping me with?”

Jack still wasn’t sure what to make of Crutchie’s tone, and he was embarrassed to admit that he hadn’t actually thought of anything he could do for Crutchie in return at all. “Oh, well, I guess I was just thinking I could offer general help, when you need it. _If_ you need it.”

“Right,” Crutchie said.

Jack swallowed. “And- and I was also thinking that we could maybe just hang out more. I don’t know.”

Crutchie finally turned to look at him, and Jack wished he hadn’t. His stare was so judgmental that Jack wondered if he’d been all wrong about Crutchie in the car. He definitely looked like he was capable of a good insult right about now.

“You view hanging out with me as charity?” he asked.

Jack hadn’t been thinking that at all, and the accusation shocked him into incoherence. “What- you think- what?”

“Is that what you were saying?” Crutchie asked, looking slightly more hurt now that the idea had sunk into his head.

“No! Oh, hell no,” Jack insisted. “No, that is not at all what I meant. It was a separate thought. I should’ve clarified that. Oh god, no.”

Crutchie’s freckled cheeks were pink, and he swallowed. “Oh, sorry. That was-”

“No, it was my fault, I-”

“I jumped to conclusions, though. I didn’t mean-”

They stumbled over each other for a few more rounds, and then both gave up, sighing and returning to silence. Jack was still reeling from the fact that Crutchie had been so quick to assume he was egotistical enough to suggest something like that. Was that how he’d been seeing him this entire time? No wonder they hardly talked.

“Crutchie, is that what you think of me?” Jack asked.

Crutchie turned. “Huh?”

“Do you think that I’m arrogant?”

Crutchie scoffed. “No, of course not, Jack. It was my bad.”

Jack didn’t reply. He didn’t know why he’d even asked. Crutchie was probably too nice to say it outright, anyway.

They finally made it into first period and sat down at the back of the room in their usual spots. Class started, and they still hadn’t said anything else to each other.

“Alright, everyone,” Ms. Larkin said. “Today, I’m going to tell you all about the partner project you’ll be doing this semester.”

Jack had forgotten all about that. He quickly turned to look at Crutchie, who was looking down at his desk, carefully avoiding Jack’s gaze.

Jack thought that the project was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. The two of them were going to pick a play, any play, (pre-approved by Ms. Larkin, of course) and rewrite it, making any alterations- genre, setting, language- that they wanted.

One girl at the front asked if it could be a musical, and Jack wanted to throw his pen at her.

“As long as you can pull it off,” Ms. Larkin said.

Crutchie had roused somewhat from his sober mood, but he looked up at Jack with much less enthusiasm than expected.

_“Kill me”_ Jack mouthed, and, reluctantly, Crutchie smiled back at him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine gets surprised by two late-night visitors. 
> 
> Trigger Warning: A character deals with being outed in this chapter, so please be conscious of that before going in if that is something that makes you uncomfortable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, sorry it's been a bit since the last update. I just wanted to say thanks so much for your sweet and supportive comments! A lot of you have written fics that I LOVE so it's super nice to hear that you like mine. :) I really do love this fandom so much.

On Wednesday night, Katherine got a call from Sarah.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.

“Katherine? It’s me, Davey.”

Katherine closed her macroeconomics binder and swung her legs out of bed. “What do you want?”

He sighed, and Katherine’s heart sped up with every passing second. If Davey was calling her, especially from Sarah’s phone, something must be wrong.

“We’re outside,” he said. “Is it okay if we come in?”

Katherine flew to her bedroom window and peeked between the curtains. Sure enough, Davey’s car sat outside her house. “Who’s ‘we’?” she asked. “You and Sarah?”

“Yeah, we had a… well, Sarah had a fight with our parents tonight.”

Katherine’s speeding heart jumped. “About…”

“Yeah, about that. Can we come in?”

Katherine moved away from the window, dropped her phone to her side, and took a few deep breaths. Her father would not like having unexpected visitors at one in the morning. He hardly tolerated any visitors at all, especially Katherine’s friends, and if he came upstairs and found that one of them was a _boy…_ forget about it. He _was_ in his office, though, and might not hear it if they came in. All Katherine knew was that she couldn’t abandon Sarah. Taking another breath, she put the phone back up to her ear and said, “Park around the corner. I’ll come down and unlock the door.”

Davey let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” he said, and then the line went dead.

Katherine tossed her phone on the bed. “Shit.”

Quickly, she put on her slippers and padded down the hallway to the stairs. She silently trotted down and then made her way cautiously past her father’s office. No sound came from the other side, besides the low hum of classical music, so that meant he was probably reading.

She deftly turned off the alarm system that she wasn’t supposed to know the passcode to, and then opened the front door, revealing Davey, and behind him, Sarah. Her eyes were red, and Davey’s shoulders were slumped. “Hey-” he started, but Katherine put her finger to her lips to cut him off, then gestured for them to come inside. They did, she locked the door and set the alarm, and then they carefully made their way upstairs to Katherine’s room.

She closed the door behind them and turned, breathing out in relief.

Sarah stood in the middle of the room, sniffling, with her brother looking extremely uncomfortable beside her. “Sarah, what happened?” Katherine asked, already guessing.

Sarah shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. “My mom saw the texts between me and the girl I’ve been talking to.”

“The one from Cedar Rapids?” Katherine asked, gently taking her friend’s arm and guiding her to sit on the bed.

Sarah nodded, and Katherine snapped in Davey’s direction and pointed to the box of Kleenex on her dresser. He handed them over, and Sarah took one out and wiped her nose. “They asked me about it, and I had to tell them.”

Katherine rubbed Sarah’s back, wishing she could’ve been there with her. “And it didn’t go well?” she asked.

Sarah scoffed. “Go well? They freaked out.”

“Oh, Sarah…”

“I wasn’t ready,” she explained. “I didn’t have anything prepared to say. I was totally blindsided by all their questions. They brought up Jack, as if the fact that I went out with him in _middle school_ meant I had to be straight.”

Katherine sighed. “I’m so sorry. Were they angry?”

“Yes,” she said immediately, but Davey came over and sat on the bed beside her, putting a hand on her knee.

“Sarah,” he said, calmly, but with a bit of an edge.

“What?” she snapped, but her anger didn’t last long. She sniffled again and replied, “Well, they didn’t yell. They just wouldn’t drop it, and I couldn’t be there anymore. I hadn’t exactly planned on coming out to them today.”

Katherine continued to rub circles into her back. “I’m sorry,” she said again. She’d always wondered when Sarah would feel comfortable coming out to her parents, and she understood why she would become defensive about being pounced on like that. Sarah would’ve wanted to be in charge of the situation. Instead, her private conversations with someone she liked had been put out on the table for discussion. Katherine had always thought that the Jacobses would be accepting of Sarah, and she hoped that once this cleared up, they would prove her right.

They talked for a few more minutes, and slowly, Sarah’s sniffling ceased, and she was able to smile again at a joke Katherine made. Davey remained fairly quiet, mostly just listening and giving encouraging nods when it was appropriate, but once the conversation became lighter, he sat up straighter and engaged.

“Okay, that was not my fault at all,” Sarah insisted, laughing. They’d somehow started talking about an incident that had occurred at a pep rally sophomore year. Katherine hadn’t been able to participate with the other cheerleaders because of a broken foot, and it was that semester that she and Crutchie became close.

“Yes, it was!” Katherine said. “Poor Crutchie was the one who got milk all over him, but you refused to take the blame!”

Sarah shook her head, her breath hitching with laughter. She turned to her brother and said, “Davey, listen, if you had been there, hearing their commentary at that pep rally, you would totally agree that it was impossible _not_ to do a spit-take.”

“You shouldn’t have brought milk in the gym in the first place,” Davey said, chuckling. “It’s against the rules.”

Sarah’s head whipped around to Katherine, and they both burst into laughter.

Davey’s cheeks reddened. “What?”

“Now you see what I have to deal with,” Sarah said.

“Trust me,” Katherine replied breathlessly, “I already knew.”

Davey continued to blush, but he looked up and caught Katherine’s eye, and his lips cracked into a bashful smile. He looked tired, but happy, too, and Katherine couldn’t stop smiling at him. Had his smile always been so contagious? Katherine realized, suddenly, that he hadn’t done anything particularly terrible all night-- until that ‘against the rules’ comment, of course, but she could let that go.

“I wish I’d been there,” Davey finally said. Katherine’s smile fell as she was reminded how much the three of them had grown apart since high school. When they were kids, Katherine had been practically inseparable with both older Jacobs siblings. Then, in eighth grade, Davey became so insufferable, that she was _glad_ he’d stopped speaking to her. Jack had always been there, of course, but he had also always been Davey’s friend, first and foremost. Davey still had him when he and Katherine parted ways, and then Crutchie came along, and by that time the old threesome was lost.

Quickly, Katherine stopped her thoughts from running too far back. She didn’t want to start thinking about Davey badly now, after going this long without hating him.

“What time is it?” Sarah asked, yawning as she checked Katherine’s alarm clock. It read 2:30 am.

“Shit,” Davey uttered.

Sarah nodded in agreement, but she was biting her lip, hesitant. Katherine patted her knee. “Sarah?” she began, “Obviously you’re welcome to stay here tonight, if you want, but when you do go home, I feel like it will be better than you think.”

Sarah took a deep breath. “Thanks, Kat, but I think- I think you're right. I’d better get home.”

“Okay,” Katherine tried to smile as encouragingly as Davey had. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Sarah said, standing.

Davey stood as well, and they both followed Katherine out into the hall, where she put her hand up to stop them before coming downstairs. Quickly, but quietly, she crept down and checked on the state of her father. The office lights were off, meaning he was likely in bed already. After a glance around downstairs to make sure he wouldn’t come walking down the hall, Katherine retrieved her friends and ushered them to the front door, which she was about to open when Davey grabbed her arm and whispered, “The alarm.”

Katherine’s spine tingled at the thought of what she’d almost done, and, awkwardly removing her arm from Davey’s grasp, she unarmed the system and opened the door for them. They slipped outside, and, just before Davey followed his sister around the corner, he turned and mouthed, _Thank you._

Katherine didn’t have time to react before he disappeared.

Sighing, she closed the door softly, set the alarm, and returned to her room. The economics binder was still on her bed, but she knew she wouldn’t be able do any more studying. Absently, she hoped Davey would be awake enough to drive home; he’d looked pretty tired.

Sliding under the covers, Katherine drifted off with the strange feeling that her perception had been changed without her approval.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Crutchie get together to work on their project for Ms. Larkin's class. Jack finds out about Crutchie's interesting taste in music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I guess I don't really have a great excuse, so... anyway... thanks for reading!

Jack couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in the theater, though he had a suspicion that it was freshman orientation.

But, this was where Crutchie had asked Jack to meet him, so this was where he was. They’d been putting off their project for Ms. Larkin’s class for weeks, and they really needed to work on it if they wanted to get a good grade. Taking a deep breath, Jack opened the door and let himself in.  

Kids sat on the stage, in the aisles, or in the seats—different groups engaged in different activities. One group was busy cutting out individual leaves from cardstock, and another seemed to be reading lines. A few others were clearly just goofing off, maybe waiting for something. In any case, Jack didn’t see Crutchie, and he recognized almost nobody else.

“Hey,” a girl with braids stood up, looking at Jack. “Are you lost?”

“No,” Jack replied. “I’m looking for my friend.” The word felt comfortable in his mouth. While it was true that Crutchie and Jack had been putting off their project, they had been spending plenty of time around each other, unrelated to school. Jack was a full-fledged member of the carpool now, and that had eased the tension between himself and Crutchie. Things were even looking up where Katherine was concerned. She really was amazing, and Crutchie, true to his word, had implied to Jack that she was interested. Now, all he had to do was ask her out, and luckily, Homecoming was right around the corner. They might even have a shot at King and Queen, though of course Jack didn’t care about that.

“Who are you looking for?” the girl asked, almost as if she didn’t believe him.

Jack took a quick glance around and realized that everyone was staring. With a small cough, he replied, “Crutchie Morris.”

The girl still looked confused.

“ _Charlie_ … Morris?” Jack tried.

The girl shook her head. “No, I know him, sorry, I just… I didn’t know you were friends.” She pointed to the back of the theater, at the control booth. “He’s up there.”

“Oh,” Jack nodded. “Thanks.”

As he took the stairs up to the booth, he wondered how Crutchie had gotten up here. Sure, he was _capable,_ but it must’ve been a hassle.

Jack approached the door and knocked softly while he opened it. “Hello…?”

Crutchie sat in front of the switchboard, writing something down on a piece of tape, but he looked up at Jack with a smile when he heard him enter. “Oh, hey, Jack! Glad you found me.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “What’s up?”

“We got some new equipment!” he beamed, placing the tape underneath a switch. “I’m labeling stuff.”

Jack grinned. “It looks good.”

“Thanks.”

Today, Crutchie was wearing a _Wicked_ T-shirt with a dark purple sweater and green converse. It was pretty on-the-nose, Jack thought, even to his untrained eye, but Crutchie somehow pulled it off.

“Where’s your beanie?” Jack asked, noticing the absence of Crutchie’s fashion staple. Without it, his light waves were even more noticeable as they curled down around his ears, or fell so low on his forehead that they covered his eyebrows.

“Oh,” Crutchie reached up to touch his head, looking surprised to find it bare.

Jack’s eyes drifted to the equipment behind him, where the beanie lay, forgotten. “I see it,” he said, starting forward.

Crutchie turned, and they both reached for the hat at the same time, Jack’s hand arriving a little later and wrapping around Crutchie’s instead.

Crutchie looked up at him, eyes wide, and Jack, suddenly embarrassed, drew back his hand. Crutchie quickly put his beanie on and turned back to the switchboard. “Thanks,” he said.

Jack couldn’t see his face. “Uh, sure.”

His heart had sped up a little, for some reason, and his palm still tingled from their accidental touch. Hurriedly, he started talking to fill the space.

“You ready to go, or…?”

“Yep, almost done,” Crutchie said curtly. Jack hoped they weren’t back to _this._ It seemed like they were always either really connecting or stepping lightly. He hadn’t quite figured it out, yet.

Jack searched for something else to say. “So, what play is this?” he asked, gesturing out at the house.

Crutchie glanced at him. “ _Into the Woods._ It opens in a few weeks.”

“Oh, cool,” Jack nodded. “That’s a movie, right?”

Crutchie’s shoulders tensed, but he spoke patiently. “The movie is based off the musical. It’s Sondheim.”

Jack had no idea what a Sondheim was, but he didn’t want to annoy Crutchie any further by asking. “Cool,” he said again. “So, who are you playing?”

Crutchie’s fingers paused over the switches for the briefest of moments before he said, “I’m not actually in it. I’m the stage manager.”

“What?” Jack exclaimed. “But you’re so good!”

Crutchie chuckled, spinning around in his chair to face him. “What would you know about it?” he asked, not unkindly.

“I--” Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m just surprised, I guess. When we read lines in class, and when we do improv games and stuff… you’re just really good. I thought you would’ve been the lead, for sure.”

Crutchie smirked at him. “Well, thanks, Jack. That’s… really nice.”

“I mean it.”

Crutchie nodded thoughtfully, grabbing his bag off the floor and picking up his crutch. “Let’s get out of here, huh, Jack?”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed, but then he noticed Crutchie wincing as he stood up. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

Crutchie nodded quickly, though his eyebrows were still drawn close together.

“Crutchie…”

“I’m fine, Jack. My leg is just acting up. It happens all the time.”

Jack didn’t like that, but he kept his mouth shut.

Crutchie sighed when they left the booth and he saw the stairs. Nodding his head toward a door in the wall behind them, he said, “there’s an elevator through there.”

“Oh, great!” Jack exclaimed, holding the door open while Crutchie went through. “That’s better.”

“Yeah,” Crutchie chuckled, pressing the button and limping inside.  “It’d be a pain going up and down those stairs every time.”

“That’s what I was thinking when I came up,” Jack told him. “I’m glad you don’t have to do that.”

Crutchie said nothing, and when Jack looked down at him, he quickly turned away, their gazes meeting briefly before slipping apart.

Jack noticed Crutchie falling behind even more than usual as they walked to his car in the parking lot.

“Hey, seriously,” Jack said, putting a hand on Crutchie’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Crutchie took in a deep breath, clearly trying to make himself look less in-pain. “I’m okay, really,” he said, attempting a smile. “It happens a lot.”

“I know, I just… how about I drive, okay?”

Crutchie grinned, a little impishly. “You think I’m a bad driver?” he teased.

Jack took the keys from him, returning the smile. “No, I just don’t want you to worry about it right now.”

Crutchie’s mouth fell open, but he didn’t say anything until after they were both settled in the car. “Thanks, Jack,” he finally uttered.

“No big deal,” Jack waved it off. “Is it still okay if we go to your place?”

“Oh, sure,” Crutchie affirmed.

“Great. I never get any work done at home.”

Crutchie chuckled while Jack started the car. “How does that excuse go over with your teachers?”

Jack laughed. “Not well, if you can believe it.”

He backed out, and after a minute or so of silence, Jack pushed the power button on the radio.

“No, Jack, no--!” Crutchie reached out to smack his hand away, but the music was already playing.

Jack froze. “What… is this?”

“Oh my god,” Crutchie tried to turn it off again, but Jack shooed him away.

“Is this…? This is One Direction.”

“ _Jack.”_

“It is!” Jack laughed. “Oh my god, it is. I was expecting some weird musical shit but this… Crutchie, oh man.”

Crutchie stopped trying to turn the music off and instead dropped his head into his hands. “It’s just what I’m listening to right now, okay?” he muttered. “A phase.”

Jack checked the input. “It’s a CD, Crutch.”

“…it’s been a long phase.”

Jack couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, then turned the volume up a few notches.

“What are you doing?” Crutchie asked, horrified.

“Jamming out, what do you think?”

“Jack--!”

Jack shook his head at him as he began to sing. “ _Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but yoo-oou.._.”

As if he was being cued, Crutchie came in right in time for, “BABY YOU LIGHT UP MY WORLD LIKE NOBODY ELSE--”

Jack laughed through his singing. “THE WAY THAT YOU FLIP YOUR HAIR GETS ME OVERWHELMED…”

Crutchie was smiling wider than Jack had ever seen him smile before, and that was saying something. When it got to the end of the chorus, they both screamed,

“YOU DON’T KNOW- OH OH! YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL!”

They slumped down, laughing so hard it hurt, and they didn’t stop until after they’d pulled into Crutchie’s driveway.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kat and Davey have an unexpected ecounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't done anything with this fic in MONTHS and I'm SO sorry. I really do enjoy it, I've just been working/doing other things and blah blah blah. I went to see Newsies in theaters for the summer encore and was like.... why haven't I updated Back for You in 20 years?? ANYWAY I know this is unforgivably short, but there is more coming. I just wanted to put something out there so you'd know I didn't die.

Katherine pulled up to the Jacobs' house and trotted up to the door, her sunglasses pushed up on her head and her keys in one hand. She was late picking up Sarah for the movies, which she knew she wouldn't hear the end of until they were sitting in the theater. 

Katherine could practically hear her already:  _You_ know  _I like the previews, Kat!_

Well, Sarah would just have to survive, previews or no previews. 

It took longer than Katherine was expecting for the door to open, and when it finally did, Davey, rather than Sarah, was standing there, looking surprised. 

"Hi," Katherine offered. 

Davey looked behind him, as if she could be talking to someone else. "Um, hi."

"Is Sarah ready?" Katherine asked. "We're running late."  

Davey's dark eyebrows scrunched up, his stance shifting. "Sarah isn't here. She went shopping with mom." 

"What?" Katherine exclaimed. "We're supposed to go to the movies! I already bought tickets!" 

"Oh," Davey mumbled, "Well... she's not here. I guess she forgot." 

"Clearly," Katherine said. "What a waste!" 

"Do you have something against going to the movies alone?" Davey asked. 

Katherine stood up straighter, sensing a hint of challenge in his tone. "No," she said. "I mean... I've never done it before, but--" 

"You've never seen a movie by yourself before?" Davey interrupted. 

"Interestingly enough, Davey Jacobs, people who have friends don't  _have_  to go to the movies alone." 

Davey's lips tugged upward at the corner very briefly, and Katherine couldn't help but feel relieved at the confirmation that they were only teasing. Looking at him now in his mismatched socks, that tiny smile on his face, she found that she didn't... _want_ to hurt his feelings? It was such a strange emotion. 

Ugh. She was going soft.

"Alright, then, if you're so popular, why not just ask one of these other 'friends' to go, instead?" Davey asked, his finger quotes implying that he questioned their existence at all.

"Crutchie's doing a school project with Jack," Katherine explained. "But it doesn't matter anymore, anyway. The movie starts in fifteen minutes." 

Davey said nothing, and Katherine sighed. "You are literally the only person I  _could_ go with, but we both know how that would turn out." 

Davey nodded, then ducked away from the door. 

Katherine froze, unsure of what was happening. "Dave...?" She called. "What are you doing?" 

There was a shuffling behind the door, and then he suddenly reappeared, now wearing shoes and holding his wallet. A pleasant, undisturbed expression on his face, he stepped outside next to Katherine and shut the door behind him. "Ready to go?" he asked. 

Katherine stared at him, and he slowly turned his eyes down to stare back, and they stayed staring at each other until both of them sputtered into laughter, the absurdity of what was happening hitting them at the same time. 

"I'll probably kill you at some point, tonight," Katherine said, walking toward the car. "I just want to be upfront about it."

Davey nodded thoughtfully. "I appreciate your honesty, Miss Plumber. It's an admirable quality. But, with respect: not if I kill you first." 


End file.
